19 March - Iraq War: 190,000 lives, $2.2 trillion

The 19th of March is the very sad ten year anniversary of the extremely failed foreign policy leading to the destruction of much of the Country of Iraq and the people of that was led by the United States, I find trouble calling it that anymore, as it abandoned the main missions following 9/11 and the military sent in to accomplish same, Afghanistan winds down as those still serving in try and accomplish at least a small part of those missions.

My subject title above comes from a Press Release of a Brown University: 'Costs of War' Project description of their newly released report on the Iraq War and some eight year occupation of.

I caught this article that was just posted:

Iraq war costs U.S. more than $2 trillion: study

March 14, 2013 - The U.S. war in Iraq has cost $1.7 trillion with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, expenses that could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades counting interest, a study released on Thursday said.

The war has killed at least 134,000 Iraqi civilians and may have contributed to the deaths of as many as four times that number, according to the Costs of War Project by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.

When security forces, insurgents, journalists and humanitarian workers were included, the war's death toll rose to an estimated 176,000 to 189,000, the study said.

The report, the work of about 30 academics and experts, was published in advance of the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003. read more>>>

In the press release you'll find this video:

As it starts out with this:

March 14, 2013 - More than 190,000 people have been killed in the 10 years since the war in Iraq began. The war will cost the U.S. $2.2 trillion, including substantial costs for veterans care through 2053, far exceeding the initial government estimate of $50 to $60 billion, according to a new report by scholars with the "Costs of War" project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. The 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq is March 19, 2013.

Along with a partial breakdown of what's in the report:

Among the group’s main findings:

* More than 70 percent of those who died of direct war violence in Iraq have been civilians — an estimated 134,000. This number does not account for indirect deaths due to increased vulnerability to disease or injury as a result of war-degraded conditions. That number is estimated to be several times higher.

*The Iraq War will ultimately cost U.S. taxpayers at least $2.2 trillion. Because the Iraq war appropriations were funded by borrowing, cumulative interest through 2053 could amount to more than $3.9 trillion.

* The $2.2 trillion figure includes care for veterans who were injured in the war in Iraq, which will cost the United States almost $500 billion through 2053.

* The total of U.S. service members killed in Iraq is 4,488. At least 3,400 U.S. contractors have died as well, a number often under-reported.

* Terrorism in Iraq increased dramatically as a result of the invasion and tactics and fighters were exported to Syria and other neighboring countries.

* Iraq’s health care infrastructure remains devastated from sanctions and war. More than half of Iraq’s medical doctors left the country during the 2000s, and tens of thousands of Iraqi patients are forced to seek health care outside the country.

* The $60 billion spent on reconstruction for Iraq has not gone to rebuilding infrastructure such as roads, health care, and water treatment systems, but primarily to the military and police. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction has found massive fraud, waste, and abuse of reconstruction funds. read more>>>

Just a bit earlier Media Matters had this in a news letter they sent out:

BLACKOUT: Networks Ignore Report Finding Massive Waste In Iraq Reconstruction

March 11, 2013 - Broadcast and cable news networks have largely ignored a new report which concluded that the United States' rebuilding efforts in Iraq squandered billions of dollars due to widespread fraud, abuse, and waste.

Last week, Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, released a report concluding that of the $60 billion the U.S. has spent on reconstruction projects in Iraq following the 2003 invasion, at least $8 billion of it was "wasted."

In the five days since its release, only PBS and MSNBC have offered substantial coverage of the report. read more>>>

As the news media quickly went and covered the House Speaker bellowing about how their must be a big conspiracy coming from the White House as the public tours were suspended and related to cost being quickly cut because of the Sequestration bill.

Keep in mind this from the 'Costs of War' Project and in the block quote above:

The Iraq War will ultimately cost U.S. taxpayers at least $2.2 trillion. Because the Iraq war appropriations were funded by borrowing, cumulative interest through 2053 could amount to more than $3.9 trillion.

As the continuing obstruction by the obstructionists who, back then, rubber stamped all costs and related to costs refuse to acknowledge that any of this is yet paid and that will continue to grow. As will the rubber stamped wants of that administration and not related to either war.

“We are dealing with veterans, not procedures—with their problems, not ours.” —General Omar Bradley, First Administrator of the Veterans Administration

"If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American." -Andrew Rosenthal 10 Feb. 2013

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." - Abraham Lincoln

Iraq: 10 Years After - Costs of War You can read the papers at above link!